Brazilian health authorities raised the alarm on Sunday after placing two men in preventive isolation in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Both presented symptoms consistent with Ebola after trips to the African continent, amid a deadly outbreak affecting central Africa.
The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17 — the entity's second-highest alert level — in response to the escalating number of cases in the region.
In São Paulo, the state government reported that the patient is a 37-year-old man who had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He presented a fever and other symptoms that fit the definition of a suspected Ebola case, although authorities did not disclose the exact date of his entry into the country. The man is hospitalized in isolation at the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectious Diseases. Rigiane de Paula, from the state's disease control coordination, explained that the patient tested positive for a severe case of meningitis but stressed that the epidemiological investigation for Ebola remains ongoing until specific test results are concluded.
Simultaneously, the Rio de Janeiro health department announced a second suspected case: a man arriving from Uganda who came to Brazil on May 22. He presented symptoms such as cough, chills, and diarrhea. Preliminary tests came back positive for malaria, but the case remains under active medical investigation until the hemorrhagic virus is ruled out.
The outbreak in central Africa is caused by a rare strain of the virus called Bundibugyo, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment available. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Union's health agency, reported that since the formal declaration of the outbreak on May 15, more than a thousand suspected cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with nearly 250 deaths reported. Neighboring Uganda confirmed two new cases of the hemorrhagic fever on Friday, bringing its total to nine infected individuals and one death since the start of the outbreak.
Despite the concerning situation on the African continent, São Paulo health authorities sought to reassure the local population, stating that the risk of introduction and circulation of the disease both in Brazil and in the rest of South America remains at very low levels. Experts note that Ebola has an incubation period of up to 21 days and that human-to-human transmission occurs only through direct contact with bodily fluids or exposure to the blood of infected individuals, who become contagious only after the onset of clinical symptoms.
Editor's note: Although the suspected cases were reported in Brazil, the health alert has regional relevance for Paraguay, a neighboring country, given the flow of people and goods between the two nations. Paraguayan health authorities are monitoring the situation and reinforcing the importance of epidemiological surveillance at border areas.